Tag: mental health awareness week

“We need to start speaking up and sharing how we’re really feeling because if we can do that, I think as a group, we can shift the way the world views mental health,” Christopher Wood, actor on the CW’s Supergirl, said in a live Instagram video earlier this week. October 1 kicked off Mental Health Awareness Week and the launch of the I Don’t Mind campaign.

“It’s a campaign where our goal is to essentially fight the shame and fear that surrounds mental illness and bring hope to people that need it. And we’re trying to do that with a common phrase, which is ‘I don’t mind.’ Because I don’t mind sharing how I actually feel and I don’t mind, you know admitting to you that I need help, because I get sad sometimes and I have a tendency to be obsessive and a bit ADD,” said Wood.

For the next two weeks the I Don’t Mind website is selling t-shirts with the proceeds benefiting the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI). Started in 1979, NAMI is the largest grassroots mental health organization in the United States. NAMI works in several capacities such as Education, Advocacy, a Toll-Free NAMI Helpline, Public Awareness Events and much more. The organization has hundreds of chapters, including NAMI Brazos Valley which serves our local area. According to NAMI:

Approximately 1 in 5 adults in the U.S. experiences mental illness in a given year

Only 41% of adults in the U.S. with a mental health condition received mental health services in the past year

Mood disorders, dysthymic disorder, and bipolar disorder are the third most common cause of hospitalization in the U.S. for both youth and adults, aged 18-44

Suicide is the 10th leading cause of death in the U.S., the 3rd leading cause of death for people aged 10-14, and the 2nd leading cause of death for people aged 15-24

“I don’t mind admitting that I’ve struggled with depression since I was thirteen. But there’s always a way through it and there’s always someone ready and willing to listen. You just have to know that you don’t have to be ashamed,” said Melissa Benoist, best known for her lead role on the CW’s Supergirl.

On the I Don’t Mind website you will also find a number of ways to get involved and show your support. They have a social media kit and a printable I Don’t Mind logo page available. Show your support by posting a selfie with the logo to your social media with #idontmind and share your story!

I don’t mind sharing.

I don’t mind supporting.

Your mind matters. Talk about it. I don’t mind listening.

**UPDATE 10/18/2017 – The first I Don’t Mind campaign received 6,652 orders and raised $115,603 for NAMI in only two weeks!**

Your mind matters. Talk about it. Support @IDONTMIND and @NAMIcommunicate at idontmind.com #IDONTMIND